ACLU challenges Nevada’s marriage officiant requirements

By J. DeVoy

The ACLU is suing the State of Nevada and Clark County – where Las Vegas is located – over laws that require non-governmental marriage officiants to have a religious affiliation. While anyone can perform a marriage in Nevada, he or she must obtain a certificate to solemnize the marriage based on the fact that he or she has a religious affiliation.

One of the plaintiffs, Raul Martinez, claims to be an atheist and member of the American Humanist Association. If successful, the suit would end – or at least compromise – the state-and-religious duopoly over marriage in Nevada.

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This entry was posted on Monday, March 28th, 2011 at 12:54 pm and is filed under church and state, First Amendment, religion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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And after the ACLU finishes with Nevada, they could look a little closer to home and deal with the appalling “marriage officiant certification office” in New York City, which has the authority to allow or disallow any religious or nonreligious affiliation of any person wishing to perform any marriage ceremony. They can reach their conclusion based on any reason at all–or no reason. Entirely arbitrarily. I had to go to New Jersey to get married, because the credentials of the person whom I chose to perform the ceremony were not recognized in New York. So far as I was able to tell, there’s a little office in the New York City Municipal Building where two “nice” little old ladies have nothing else to do but examine the marriage-performing credentials of various groups and give them a thumbs-up or thumbs-down (without any judicial review, naturally).